Sugar's Dora Party

(This is actually posting a long time after I started writing it!)

Sugar is two years old! Hard for her mommy to believe some moments and very real in others.

Smack in the middle of her "Dora" phase, Sugar got a Dora party...much like her older sister's fourth birthday. Dora plates, cupcakes, and lots of Dora presents. It took Sugar a few tries to get the hang of opening presents...but once she got it she really got it. (Actually, just yesterday, she decided to open one of the Christmas presents under the tree...wasn't hers...but looked fun to open). The trick on her birthday was getting Sugar's older siblings to let her open her own presents. I think they were the most excited of all of us.

Happy Birthday, Sugar!!

The Cutting of the Tree

Year 5. 2007.

I can't believe that this year marks the fifth year we have treked to the mountains near Pine, Colorado to roam through the woods and collect our own, slightly lop-sided, but decidedly unique Christmas tree.

I still have the picture of our first adventure displayed in the living room. Slugger, at 1 1/2 years, sitting on a tree stump in the middle of the pine forest (no snow to be seen). This year, Sugar, at almost 2 years, is older than he was then. How have 5 years skipped so quickly by?

This years hunt was highly successful by Wild Rose's family standards. We bagged our tree quickly, probably within 30 minutes of looking. We actually roamed around an extra 15 minutes after finding a pretty good tree at first looking, just to say we had really "looked". LT didn't have to carry the tree up any major hills and tells me it is much lighter than some of our first year's picks. We did end up cutting off at least 4 feet just to get it into our living room. It is sticking up into the last available inch of skylight in the slightly vaulted ceiling. But, lights are strung, ornaments are hung, and Sparkle has declared it "beautiful". All is well.

We had fun eating breakfast with 30+ friends and heading up caravan style to the mountains. Thanks to our brave friends who hosted all of us for morning munchies this year! The tradition would not be nearly as much fun without the crazy lot of dear friends we go adventuring with. Somehow, we got elected (in our absence) to be the "leaders" of the caravan. The pressure! Having to choose a pull off spot where 10 cars or so could pull off too and find good tree hunting was intimidating. But, all was well. We found a spot, did some treking, sledding and general playing around. We drank hot chocolate, a little brandy, and ate some slightly chilly graham crackers. In all seriousness, I love the cutting of the Christmas tree. A toast of hot chocolate to wishing for many, many, many more years to come.